I love encouraging Lily to dream big. But sometimes I find myself dashing her hopes with my own limited thinking. My discouragement can be overt or subtle, but I make it a practice to check myself and make a conscious choice to be open to the wide expanse of whatever she’s brewing up.
When Lily was just 18 months old, I told her we were going to a fair. She had only been to a country fair, so she assumed the city street fair would be packed with the kinds of animals we’d seen at the country fair.
“I’m so excited. I get to see animals at the street fair!” she beamed.
“Actually honey,” I cautioned, “there aren’t animals at the city fair. It’s more like there are booths with fun things to buy or eat.”
Then I caught myself. I really heard what I was saying. I realized I was being dismissive about her dream to see animals, so I adjusted my attitude.
“Lily, if there were animals at this fair, what would you most want to see?”
“I really want to see a rabbit!”
“Well I don’t think it’s likely we’ll find a rabbit, but let’s go to the city fair and see if we do.”
After going one block into the city street fair we passed hordes of twenty-somethings with beers, pop music stations with free frisbees, and many give-aways, but no rabbit. But then on the next block guess what we saw? Right there in the middle of the city mayhem, stood a street magician with his trusty assistant, a live rabbit!
I swear, my jaw dropped. “Lily!!! You wanted a rabbit, and you manifested a rabbit! I never saw a rabbit at a city fair before. You are amazing.”
Lily cocked her head and smirked. “Yes, Mom. I just really wanted to see one, and so we did.”
I am learning from Lily to be open-minded, especially when it comes to what we really want.